How to Get an Extra $5,000 by the End of the Year

There are 112 days until the end of the year (11 Sept to 31 Dec, including today and the 31st.) How different would your life be if you had an extra $5,000 by then?

$5,000 cleared from your debt or put into savings to start the new year with is not a small amount.

Broken down, it is roughly $45 per day ($44.64 to be more exact).

Similar to the $27.40 per day for 1 year = $10,000 challenge, if you can find a way to make or save an extra $45 a day, you could have $5,000 extra by the end of the year.

​Read the full article here or skim some of the ideas below. You do not need to do them all at once, pick what works for you and be consistent.

How can you do it?

1. Set up a separate account for it or commit to putting it on your debt as soon as it comes in. 3 options for accounts are ING who offer $100 to new customers, Up who offer $21 instantly and Ubank who have $30 on offer with a few steps.
2. ​Check you have claimed everything you are entitled to e.g. WA has a $100 fuel voucher, treebate, school vouchers. Other states have other offers. We have them or how to find them here.
3. ​Consider a budgeting app to help you keep track of your finances.
4. Schedule discounted food. Meal kits are not great at full price but if you get them free or discounted, it can work out. E.g. $50 off Delidoor which comes frozen so you can have readymade meals in the freezer to resist takeaway or on those harder nights. Or get the big discounts HelloFresh, MarleySpoon, Dinnerly and EveryPlate here and spread them out to save some time and money.
5. Choose some side hustles e.g. Online surveys, any of the 80+ ones we have here, rent out your garage/carport or driveway, or check out the new side hustle series. We are interviewing people who have their own side hustles, have advice etc.
6. ​Activate cash back for all your online shopping.
7. Join every loyalty program for anywhere you shop and maximise it but ONLY for purchases you were already going to make.
8. If you have no planned purchases, delete the apps/unsubscribe or send the emails to a separate folder so you are not tempted in sales.
9. Do a No Spend Challenge for a set period of time.
10. Plan the end of the year e.g. teacher's gifts, holiday celebrations (such as how to do Christmas with no money or how to handle all those expensive invitations this time of year etc). Find all the Christmas articles here,
11. Go through this list of 24 ways to easily save money and these frugal habits to save thousands.
12. ​Read through all the things you can do to save money this summer including reducing your electricity bills, finding entertainment, ways to keep cool on a budget etc.
13. If you have a birthday, be sure to sign up for birthday freebies at least a month before. Some of the freebies and discounts are valid on the day only, others are for a week or month.
14. Source free clothes instead of buying them.
15. ​Get discounts on everything, plan your purchases and do not buy anything you don't need, even if it is on sale.
16. If you drink alcohol, try to cut back. Click here to try Naked Wines and get up to $100 off plus free delivery or try Get Wines Direct – possibly one of the cheapest ways to get wine.
17. Go through your bank account, PayPal etc and cancel all unnecessary subscriptions. Netflix, Prime, Disney, Hulu, Spotify, AppleMusic, Audible, YouTube Premium, they all add up.
18. Compare all your bills to make sure you are getting the best rate. E.g save ​$25 a month on NBN plans with Tangerine​ and ​$10 a month on their sim only plans​.
19. ​Go on a money hunt. I did this yesterday and came up with $950 in cash, vouchers, a refund etc.
20. If you put this money on debt, you will also save on the interest you are paying.
21. ​Sell something you no longer need, look for things you can resell or create things to sell.
22. ​Rent out a room or provide a service or experience on Airbnb.
23. Do tasks on Airtasker, try DoorDash, Ubereats or other delivery options.
24. Enter competitions, you never know what you might win. We have a $100 giveaway if you do a short survey here.

Our Meal Plan

This week we tried Delidoor and it made life so easy. Meals were enjoyed by the family and we could stretch some such as adding vegetables to the chicken tikka masala or salad with the lasagne etc.

We deliberately chose meals that were heat and eat instead of cooking anything. They arrive frozen so we simply defrosted what we wanted for that day.

Most of it is still in the freezer as we had a meal plan but we wanted to try this too as things came up and I had to change plans a little. It was great having this available.

​Get $50 off Delidoor if you want to try it.

The Thrifty Issue Community

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